"I Want to be a Shining Example" is just one of many paintings at Mark Laver's new exhibit (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRural Disasters<\/em> is a series of paintings inspired by internet photographs of car crashes along stretches of rural highway or burning buildings. These roaring images bring flares of red and orange into nights that rarely exhibit those colours naturally. For this spectacle we must undoubtedly acknowledge that suffering took place. Laver is careful not to exaggerate the event; he adopts his own creative angle, but maintains certain details from the original: rain spots on the lens, reflected camera flash, and even the odd date stamp.<\/p>\n\u201cSomething about that original image strikes me so strong that I want to keep that. I don\u2019t want to just do a big expressionistic version,\u201d says Laver.<\/p>\n
Camosun visual arts instructor Ralph Stanbridge, one of Laver\u2019s art teachers when he was at Camosun, is thrilled to see that Laver is still at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been apparent since he began his studies here at Camosun that he\u2019s thoroughly engaged by the practice of painting,\u201d says Stanbridge. \u201cIt\u2019s very commendable for that engagement to have continued 21 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laver\u2019s Night Paintings<\/em> depict more peaceful scenes created in single sessions under moonlight, street lamps, his car\u2019s interior light, or darkness, if necessary. His use of available light is purely practical.<\/p>\n\u201cI want the dark and the contrast of the outside. I want to be able to see, so if the light is too bright inside I can\u2019t see through the windshield very well. So it\u2019s just a matter of necessity, it\u2019s not a conscious thing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
These paintings typically begin as a quick glance from behind the steering wheel. \u201cIt was always while driving that I would see things that I loved,\u201d says Laver, who realizes that, unfortunately, when you\u2019re driving you can\u2019t always act upon every artistic impulse. \u201cQuite often I\u2019ll see things and just won\u2019t end up getting it that day because I can\u2019t park anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dark and quiet landscapes are the perfect place to pursue his love of paint; amidst even the dreariest night are sparks of beauty that glisten and glow, just waiting to be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really the light within the dark that gets you,\u201d says Laver, \u201cwhether it\u2019s just a very slight glow in the sky, or sometimes it\u2019s a glare of a street light on the sidewalk on a wet street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark Laver: Shining Examples<\/strong>
\nUntil March 31, 10 am – 4 pm
\nLegacy Art Gallery (630 Yates)
\nlegacygallery.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anyone who grew up on the island – or even in British Columbia – knows the appeal of seeing a highway in the middle of the night, enveloped by never-ending forest. Some islanders might even know all too well the horror of stumbling across a sinister problem in a rural trailer park or a car […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-march-21-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2831"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2881,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831\/revisions\/2881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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